Two men killed in separate incidents on Wednesday

Two men were killed in two separate incidents Wednesday in New Orleans, one in an early morning shooting in a French Quarter alley and another in a New Orleans East hotel.

About 2 a.m., according to one witness, an argument between two groups of men erupted on Exchange Place in the Quarter. An exchange of gunfire left a 35-year-old man dead, his body found lying over a handgun on nearby Iberville Street.

A 31-year-old man was shot in the torso, and a 27-year-old was grazed in the leg. Both were listed in stable condition, according to police.

One woman who declined to give her name said one of the men involved in the argument had been seen on the block, sweating profusely, in the hours before the incident. Police attempted to get him to leave the scene but he stayed, she said.

Another woman, a manager at a nearby business, said she has repeatedly asked police to step up their presence on Exchange Place. She claimed drug deals frequently occur in the alley at night.

“It’s just unreal. It’s just not policed properly,” she said.

Hours later, police responded to a shooting at the Baymont Inn and Suites at 12340 South Interstate 10 Service Road in New Orleans East about 4:20 p.m.

NOPD spokesman Officer Garry Flot said an unknown man was found fatally shot in the hallway of the hotel’s fourth floor.